World Mustard Output Expanding

WINNIPEG - Jun 18/07 - SNS -- World mustard seed production should rise 7% in 2007-08 to around 520,000 metric tons (MT), believes Stan Skrypetz, Pulse and Special Crops Analyst, Market Analysis Division, Research and Analysis Directorate, Strategic Policy Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.

Most of the increase is accounted for by a forecast 18% increase in Canadian seeded area to 420,000 acres as growers respond to tightening supplies and solid improvements in bid levels during much of the 2006-07 marketing year.

Assuming normal abandonment rates and trend yields, Skrypetz said production is forecast to increase by 25% to 145,000 MT. Production is expected to increase for all three types. Assuming normal growing and harvest conditions, quality is expected to return to normal and be slightly lower than for 2006-07.

Canadian supply is forecast to decrease by 20% because of lower carry-in stocks. Exports are forecast to fall slightly because of the lower supply and carry-out stocks are forecast to decrease further. The lower supply is expected to support prices, with average prices increasing significantly for all three types.

Over the long term, Skrypetz said expansion of the crop will be helped by a strong and growing demand for mucilage. "Plant breeders have responded by developing yellow mustard seed varieties with higher mucilage levels," he wrote in a review of the mustard seed sector in Agriculture Canada's Bi-Weekly Bulletin.

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